The invention herein pertains to line removal devices, and particularly pertains to devices for unwinding line from a fishing reel.
The time consuming and laborious task of manually unwinding old line from fishing reels has been practiced by fishermen and reel repair shop personnel for many years. Recently, automated ways of removing used or old fishing line has been developed employing power tools such as electric drills. It has been common practice in the past to insert a wooden or metal rod in a mechanical or electric drill, attach the end of the line from the reel to the rod, and thereafter activate the drill to wind the line onto the rod. Once the used line has been completely removed from the reel it can be simply discarded with the rod. The line can also be removed from the rod by cutting it off, or painstakingly manually manipulating it therefrom. With the recent growth of fishing tournaments and the explosion of prize money offered, fishing contestants generally rewind their reels daily with new line to prevent line breakage. In addition, reel repair shops generally remove the line from the fishing reel before repairing the same and thereafter rewind the repaired reel with new fishing line.
Thus with the problems, costs, labor and disadvantages of methods of removing old fishing line from reels, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a device and method for conveniently removing the same.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a device which can be easily operated by relatively unskilled persons in a quick and efficient manner.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a line removal device which can be affixed to a tool such as an electric drill to save time and labor in the removal process.
It is also another objective of the present invention to provide a line removal device which includes a tapered shaft having opposing hubs thereon.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a line removal device which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and which allows quick removal of the old line wound thereon.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description is set forth below.
Many fishing reels hold hundreds of meters of fishing line. Such reels may hold six hundred meters of a fifty pound test, nylon monofilament line which can develop defects and weaknesses therealong during use. To a top contestant in a fishing contest, line breakage can result in the loss of tens of thousands or more dollars over a single weekend. Thus, to better insure the chances of a large purse, such fishermen rewind their reels daily with new line. To assist in the unwinding and removal of old fishing line, the present invention provides a removal device consisting of a tapered shaft affixed between two opposing hubs, one of said hubs being releasable, and each having dome-like inner faces. At the proximal end of the tapered shaft a winding stud is affixed for placement in the chuck of a typical electric hand drill. On the opposite end of the shaft, exterior of the distal hub is a rotatable handle for holding the removal tool during operation.
The method of use includes attaching the old line from a fishing reel to the tapered shaft. An electric drill joined to the winding stud is held in one hand and the handle held in the other. When the drill is activated, the device rotates and the line is quickly wound from the reel onto the removal device. Once the old line has been completely removed from the reel, the releasably, distal hub proximate the handle can then be rotated relative to the shaft where it disengages therefrom and can then be slid over the handle for removal purposes. Next, the old bundle of line on the shaft is grasped and is manually rotated in a direction opposite that used during winding. This rotation or twisting action loosens the line from the tapered shaft. Next, the bundle is manually urged from the shaft, across the handle for proper disposal. Should the line be in good (new) condition it can be rewound on the fishing reel, such as may occur after a fishing reel repair without removing it from the tapered shaft.